Vampire Brat (9 page)
Authors: Angie Sage
“Oh. Well, I noticed when he was kneeling down doing his packing. He's got a big wolf paw print thingy on the bottom of each shoe, so that when he runs he makes wolf prints
instead of footprints. Isn't that fun? I'd like some fairy footprint shoes.”
“Fairies don't make footprints,” I told her. “They fly.”
Before Wanda had a chance to answer there was a loud knock on the door and we raced to get it. I got there first, even before Aunt Tabby.
Standing on the doorstep was the almost grown-up girl. On her own!
“Hello, Mathilda,” I said in my best grown-up voice. “Would you like to come in?”
“Yes, please, Araminta,” she said. I was amazed. She remembered my name!
Then she said, like I was almost grown up too, “I do hope Max has not been too much trouble.”
So I smiled and said, “Not at all. We're
sorry to see him go.” Which we were. And then I said, “I'll go and ask Barry to help Perkins with the trunk. Would you like a cup of tea before you go?”
And Mathilda smiled and said, “That would be wonderful, Araminta. Thank you.”
So I took her downstairs to the third-kitchen-on-the-right-just-around-the-corner-past-the-boiler-room and I made the tea.
Aunt Tabby didn't say anything. She looked like she had just swallowed a tennis ball and was trying to figure out what to do next. In fact she didn't say anything at all until we had waved good-bye to Max and Mathilda and the hearse had disappeared around the last bend. Then she said, “Well, Araminta, I must say you have picked up some wonderful manners from little Maximilian.”
I didn't say anything because Aunt Tabby would not understand.
“Come on, Wanda,” I said, “let's go and see if Max has left any candy behind.”
And we sat in our Saturday bedroom and ate three banana chews, five rhubarb custards,
ten pink sticky shrimps, four toffees, one piece of fudge, two strawberry chews, and a whole bar of fruit and nut chocolate.
When I grow up I want to be just like Mathilda. But not yet.
ANGIE SAGE
, the celebrated author of the Septimus Heap series, shares her house with three ghosts who are quite shy. Two of the ghosts walk up and down the hall every now and then, while the other one sits and looks at the view out of the window. All three are just about the nicest ghosts you would ever wish to meet. She lives in England. You can visit her online at www.septimusheap.com.
Visit www.AuthorTracker.com for exclusive information on your favorite HarperCollins author.
JIMMY PICKERING
studied animation and has worked for Hallmark, Disney, and Universal Studios. He is the illustrator of several picture books. You can visit him online at www.jimmypickering.com.
ANGIE SAGE
SEPTIMUS HEAP, BOOK ONE:
Magyk
SEPTIMUS HEAP, BOOK TWO:
Flyte
SEPTIMUS HEAP, BOOK THREE:
Physik
ARAMINTA SPOOKIE
1:
My Haunted House
ARAMINTA SPOOKIE
2:
The Sword in the Grotto
ARAMINTA SPOOKIE
3:
Frognapped
Cover art © 2006 by Jimmy Pickering
Cover design by Amy Ryan
ARAMINTA SPOOKIE
4:
VAMPIRE BRAT
. Illustrations copyright © 2007 by Jimmy Pickering. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
EPub © Edition JULY 2008 ISBN: 9780061975523
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